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Israel celebrates the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. At 16:30 in the capital was followed by the traditional March of flags, which is attended by tens of thousands of people. Among the marchers — children and teenagers, students, settlers, inhabitants of other cities of Israel, as well as foreign tourists.

Around 17:00 the largest column came out of the city center towards the Old town. Participants will March through the Muslim quarters of the city to the Western Wall.

March began with clashes between its members and leftist activists near Damascus gate. According to ha’aretz, the left-wing activists and residents of the Arab neighborhoods Shumskii stood before the gate, blocking the entrance to the Old town. Police and border guards were forced to use force to clear the way for the Marchers.

According to the website Rechet.tv the morning of 24 may, the advocates of the public organization «IR Amim» urgently appealed to the Supreme court of justice with the requirement to cancel the permission issued by the police to the organizers of the March, and allowing to bypass all the gates, located in the Eastern part of the Old town. The lawyers pointed out that such a route was approved by the police and city authorities for the first time. According to them, this leads to the fact that the residents of the Muslim quarter and the streets of Salah al-DIN, which is the main shopping street of the Old town, will be cut off from the neighborhoods of Silwan and RAS al-Amud.

The Website Mekomit.co.il writes that each year the shopkeepers in the Muslim quarter of the Old year during the March forced to close their shops. This year 50 Jewish businessmen, owning bars and restaurants in the Jewish part of the city, announced that during the March, they closed in solidarity with the Arab colleagues.

This year, as in previous, the Marchers are not allowed to use flags with long shafts, to avoid acts of vandalism. The police, in turn, has said it will thwart any attempts of incitement from both the Jews and the Arabs.

According to the website «kalkalist», this year the municipality of Jerusalem contributed to the March of 500 thousand shekels, which is 200 thousand more than last year’s budget.

Jerusalem police warned that in connection with the celebrations there will be changes in traffic. From 15:00 to 21:00, the streets will be blocked: Bezalel, And Melech George, Keren Yesod, Agron, Yitzhak Kariv, Shlomo and Melech David and Melech, Hativat Jerusalem, the Sultan Suliman, Derech yeriho, mA’ale hashalom, Derech Hebron, between the streets Derech, Chevro and Miriam and Hashmonaim. Also will be closed highway 1 South of the intersection of Yerba mate Artzi.

In the evening at the Givat a-Tahmoshet (ammunition hill) held a solemn public ceremony. From 17:00 to midnight will be closed for transport street Zvi Yehuda between Herzl and Ilui.

The Knesset held a special session on Jerusalem Day. Speaking from the rostrum of the Knesset, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the visit of Donald trump to the Western Wall of canceling all anti-Israel propaganda style. His speech the head of government ended with the words: «the Temple mount and the Western Wall will remain forever under Israeli sovereignty».

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Israel celebrates the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem 24.05.2017